simple ways to teach your kids every day

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How do I keep the kids entertained while I mow the lawn? Water painting. All you need is a bucket of water, paintbrushes, and a fence. It’s free and it’s fun and it doesn’t make a mess. Plus kids can practice all kinds of things:

letters

numbers

counting

patterns- use the fence pickets

math problems

sight words or spelling words

shapes

and my daughters’ favorite: splattering

It isn’t the same as practicing handwriting with a pencil and paper, but that’s the point. Sometimes kids need a break from the routine. Novelty makes learning fun. Who wouldn’t want to practice their spelling words outside with a paintbrush in the sunshine instead of at the kitchen table?

What is even better than paper towel art? Paper towel learning! Just write with markers on a paper towel. Then use an eye dropper filled with water to “explode” the words into art. I think this would be a great way to get reluctant writers to practice handwriting. Watching water transform their words is built-in motivation. And how easy would it be to set your kiddo up with a paper towel and marker to practice her spelling words at breakfast?

What can you do with leftover birthday balloons? How about make a number line? This is an easy game that gets kids moving and works on math skills, too.

Write numbers 1-10 on ten balloons with a sharpie. (I also wrote some letters to see if my three-year-old knew the difference between numbers and letters.)

Scatter the balloons around your backyard or around your house.

Ready, set, RUN and get a balloon!

Bring it back to a central location to make a number line. Ask questions to help little kids figure out where to place their balloon. Should 10 be on the left or right? Is 3 before or after 4? Should 8 be closer to 1 or 10?

I loved playing Memory (or Concentration) when I was growing up. If you are unfamiliar with the game, all of the cards are face down on a table and you take turns turning over a two at a time to get a match. It’s a great game for improving (you guessed it) memory. We have a few different versions, but I thought it would be fun to make our number game to work on math skills.

Use notecards or cut cardstock to make twenty cards.

Have your child write the numbers 1-10 on ten cards.

Have your child put stickers on the other ten cards. One sticker on the first card, two on the next, and so on.

Play Memory by matching up numerals with the correct number of stickers.

Common Core Standards

(kindergarten- Write numbers from 0-20)

(kindergarten- Understand the relationship between numbers and quantities; connect counting to cardinality)

(kindergarten- Understand that the last number name said tells the number of objects counted. The number of objects is the same regardless of their arrangement or the order in which they were counted)

One of our favorite car games is “I Spy.” The traditional game uses colors (at least the one I always played)…

Player 1 chooses a color of an object in sight of all players and says “I spy with my little eye something (insert color of object here).”

Other players take turns guessing objects that are the given color.

Some people allow players to ask yes/no questions such as “Is it inside the car? Is it smaller than my hand? Is on the left side of the car?”

A player wins when she guesses the object correctly. Then it is her turn to say “I spy….”

I Spy is a fun way to pass the time on a long car ride or in the waiting room of the doctor’s office. As a bonus, kids are also learning! What concepts could you work on using the game I Spy?

colors- “I spy with my little eye something blue.”

shapes– “I spy with my little eye something square.”

numbers– “I spy with my little eye three of something.” This would work best if you are in a room where the kids could walk around and easily count objects.

letters- “I spy with my little eye the letter B.” You could spy letters on billboards while you are driving, or letters on a page while you are reading.”

words- “I spy with my little eye the word go.” Again, this could work on billboards on the road or in books in a waiting room.

spelling- “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the letter C.” You could just give the first letter, spell out a whole word, or maybe even letter patterns inside the word like “ee.”

phonics- “I spy with my little eye something that begins with the sound /s/.” Same playing with letters, but this time use letter sounds.

rhymes- “I spy with my little eye something that rhymes with bee.”

adjectives- “I spy with my little eye something smooth.” This is another game that would be best played in a room where kids could feel the different textures.

measurement– “I spy with my little eye something about one inch tall.” Be sure to review unit measurements before you play. If you play this at your house, they could walk around and measure things with a ruler.

I am a little messophobic. That’s a word, right? I love to give my kids new experiences and it is fun to watch them get messy…but the clean-up. The clean up. Sometimes I don’t know if it is worth it. Sigh. Despite my messophobia, I got out the shaving cream one day. I remember playing with shaving cream on the table when I was little and I loved it. And of course, so did my girls. Although Little Sis did not like to get it on her hands, so she used stick. Maybe messophobia is genetic?

Shaving cream might be the “fun factor” your kid needs to practice writing letters, numbers, or words. Even toddlers can practice straight and curved lines that they will need to make letters. Little Sis made lots of lines, while Big Sis did some writing. She might need a little more practice on her numbers….

And the clean up was not as bad as I expected. Luckily no one started throwing shaving cream, so it was just the table to clean up. I could wipe most of it off the table with my hands and then wash it off in the sink. Then a wet towel did the rest. Shaving cream is officially approved for messophobes everywhere.

How many ways can you write a number? I did this activity with my second grade students, but it would work for a wide range of ages. Kindergartners can practice writing math facts, words, and pictures to show a number. Older elementary kids can show off their math skills by doing multiplication, adding decimals, or fractions. How do you play? Just pick a number and then take turns writing different ways to show the number. All you need is a pen and paper, so it is easy to do while you are waiting at a restaurant or office.